Stupid question here, what caliber are these ?

Looking on line , barrel is marked 45cal model 1955

N range serial .

I have looked at the book , S&W 4th edition Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson (Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson)

by Jim Supica

I was still confused , imagine that .

Thanks , Kirk

45ACP I believe

It is my understanding that the 25-1 (and succeeding ODD number dashes) are 45 Colt, whereas the 25-2 and succeeding EVEN number dashes) are 45 ACP, cylinder recessed for moon clips. See below pics (soory for crummy quality) of my 25-2, especially one showing cylinder bore with the step in the chamber.

The guns that are 45 ACP will also accept 45 Autorim without moon clips but the ammo is horribly expensive around here. The even dash for 45 ACP can also be used without moon clips, you just have to pike out the spent brass, or pick it with fingernail.

Check your SCSW 4th again (page 225) and read the whole description which describes each "engineering change" which designate the "dash numbers".

Attached Images

	M25 right side.jpg (37.8 KB, 47 views)
	M25 serial number.jpg (54.4 KB, 51 views)
	M 25-2 E.jpg (37.8 KB, 49 views)
	M 25-2 C.jpg (36.4 KB, 46 views)

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

The odd / even, Colt / ACP structure did not come into effect until muct later. The Model 25, 25-1 and 25-2 were all .45 ACP. There were some rare .45 Colt chamberings, but such a chambering did not change the engineering change number (dash number) in the first three iterations.

Introduced in 1977, the 25-3, 4 & 5 were chambered in .45 Colt and the dash numbers were unique to that caliber, while the 25-2 continued in production as a .45 ACP until 1988 when it was replaced by the 25-6.

All Smiths have the shoulder in the chamber at the beginning of the throat - standard practice for all calibers. The only guns that I know of that were bored straight through were a small number of 1917 Colts and the multi-caliber guns like the Judge or Governor.

There may be people that tell you that you can use your rimless cartridge moon clip gun without moon clips. They will claim that the round will headspace on the shoulder in the chamber, theoretically, they are correct. However, since SAAMI sets the specs for cartridge dimensions, the shoulder is placed at maximum case length depth for a given caliber. My experience has been that most factory ammo or brass, when new, is always considerably less than this dimension - meaning that, in reality, headspacing on that shoulder, by the case mouth, seldom actually occurs.

This is more common with newer .45 ACP guns with SAAMI-spec chambers. While SAAMI has been around since 1926 and the .45 ACP was adopted in its current form in 1911, the SAAMI cartridge dimension drawings weren’t done until 1979. So it is quite possible that early .45 ACP revolvers may be more likely to function without clips, with a higher rate of reliability, than guns made post-1979, as chamber dimensions were at the discretion of the manufacturer.

What does happen is that variances in chamber roundness, smoothness, cleanliness and other variables, will hold some cartridges firmly enough that a firing pin strike will ignite the primers. Others are driven forward in the chamber, which results in a light primer strike and a failure to ignite.

Just as some rounds are held tightly enough for ignition and others are driven forward, some cases may drop out of the cylinder from gravity, while others may be "pluckable" and yet others will have to be poked out using a rod.

You should consider moon clips essential for any revolver that is chambered for a rimless or semi-rimmed round. The other alternative is using the rimmed version of that round, if one exists.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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NRA Benefactor Member

Well Kirk you should be confused.
If truely a 25-1 it would be an S prefix gun.

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Paul
S&WCA #2726

Thanks PizzaBob and others for straightening out my misinformation in my above post. My Model 25-2 is a N suffix serial number and Letters as shipping in 1971.

The other posters are also correct in my experience with moonclips and without. with moonclips, especially with factory S&W full moons (came with gun originally, now big $) the gun has not ever given me light stikes, thus failure to fire, but w/o moons, depending on ammo (Blazer Brass) I was getting 3, sometimes 4 out of 6 FTF.

So....yea....if you have 45 ACP chambering, get some moons (full), snag a BMT loading/demooning tool and you'll clearly be a happy camper.

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

Well I am at that! It definitely says 25-1, and the barrel is marked 45 cal model 1955.

So what I am getting is that if the gun is 45 colt it will say so? Yes?


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GVF Investments
Kingman , Ks

45 acp/45 auto rim.

No. The barrel marking will be the same whether it is Colt or ACP - S&W was loathe to stamp a competitor's name (Colt) on their gun, so the rollmark was the same for either. You will have to physically try a .45 Colt to see if it chambers. If it does, you have a rare and expensive piece. Probably a 99.8% probability it is .45 ACP. Model 25-1's are pretty rare birds in their own right. I believe the -1 engineering change was making the ejector rod threads left-handed.

Enjoy one of the finest members of the S&W family - but be warned, they are like potato chips - I'm up to six now.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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Here's a couple of mine a 25-3 and a 25-5 they did in fact stamp colt on some of their guns.


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Kingman , Ks

There are no 25 stupid questions..